The number of mobile computing devices is becoming bigger than the population of the earth. The annual sales of laptops, tablet, and smartphones, etc. is approaching more than two billion devices. People generally accept carrying and using mobile computing devices and being always reachable. Moreover, the cost for a chipset to communicate locally is below one dollar and the cost for mobile communication and data services has decreased dramatically in the last few years. Current technology provides LTE mobile broadband speeds of up to 300 Mbs.
Because of the ease and potential benefits of connecting devices, more devices are being connected. There are some estimates that, in the near future, as many as fifty billion devices will become connected via some network, such as the Internet. However, the ability to connect devices relatively easily does not directly address the issue of how to efficiently link different types of data such as mobile computing, social behavior, Internet business, mobile networks, etc. In the case of the manufacturing industry, groups like Industry 4.0 in Germany and the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition in the U.S. have been established to address device connectivity issues in connection with manufacturing. These groups provide specifications for controlling industrial processes including, in some cases, the ability to connect infinite machines and devices. The specifications may also provide for intelligent process and service management, information transparency between users and across automation and production processes, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) management of computing devices in line with company policies and legal frameworks, security and control of data in terms of access rights and service distribution, information relating to sharing and storing data hosted in private and/or public clouds, and scalable and affordable services for SME and branches of big companies.
The increased functionality that is provided in connection with industry specifications and requirements has placed substantial demand to the device providers who provide components used in industrial settings (and possibly home settings) for controlling and monitoring equipment. These components include PCs, routers, mobile computing devices, firewalls, servers, capillary devices having sensors and actuators, etc. The demand placed on the providers in connection with these components include linking and managing mobile computing devices (including BYOD/CYOD equipment), routing Wi-Fi data while providing optimized quality of service (QoS), integrating and managing capillary networks while providing optimized QoS, integrating LTE with 3GPP to provide communication, ensuring security, integrity and data protection for any data protocols that are used, facilitating the creation and integration of applications, allowing software and hardware integration for third parties, and generally providing business solutions for customers within a reasonable cost.
In some cases, optimized QoS may refer to the maximum achievable QoS (e.g., maximum data throughput and minimum message delay for the critical communication channels, etc.). In other cases, optimized QoS may refer to satisfactory QoS in consideration of additional boundary conditions and requirements (e.g., acceptable throughput and delay below the maximum achievable values for the critical communication channels in favor of more robust overall channel configurations that are less likely to suffer from transient disturbances, etc.).
In some instances, device providers design and fabricate substantially complete systems that include all the hardware and software needed for basic operations as well as hardware and software needed to provide features and capabilities desired by a device/machine manufacturer or by a particular end-user. However, a complete system from a single provider does not necessarily provide desired flexibility to address the issues mentioned above. In addition, a complete system from a single provider may not be able to quickly adapt to rapid changes in market demands or satisfy diverse requirements of multiple customers and users.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that allows for sufficient flexibility in connection with controlling and monitoring equipment.